Social Cognition

It is astounding how much children understand about the social world. Children are able to differentiate between themselves and those around them. They have astounding knowledge about human agency and what humans can do that non-human objects can do (Sigler & Alibali, 307). Children are able to move from an understanding of the observable physical characteristics to an understanding of internal psychological traits (Sigler & Alibali, 309). Children are also able to understand to some extent the workings of the human mind: such as goals, intentions, desires and expectations (Sigler & Alibali, 313). Younger children tend to have an understanding of others that is based on the child’s experiences and beliefs and desires (Sigler & Alibali, 318). However as they get older, after three years of age, children seem to be able to differentiate between their own knowledge of the world and that of others (Sigler & Alibali, 318 & 319). They also have knowledge of social categories, such as knowledge about gender and race and ethnicity. The belief is that children have gender schemas, which determine what they view as correct behavior and action for a particular gender (Sigler & Alibali, 334). These schemas are developed and refined by their interactions with others in the society (Sigler & Alibali, 335). Children’s understanding of race also seems to be based on schemas of some sort that are refined and developed more through time (Sigler & Alibali, 336). Their understanding of race, ethnicity, and social class has stages with the child moving from a merely physical understanding of these concepts to a more complex understanding of the ways that various different factors interact and how there is great variability within and throughout these categories (Sigler & Alibali, 337). It is astonishing that children can accomplish all of this but that adults often seem to have a difficult time with social cognition. Children are able to take into account the experiences of others in evaluating what those people will believe and how they will react however; adults often do not take the experiences of others into account. This is evident in the conflict between people of different economic classes or different races and genders because people rarely take the experiences of other’s into account. Perhaps this is because we depend on others when developing our schema and concepts about the world around us. If we are not exposed to the experiences of others or are taught that these experiences are not important than we will not incorporate them into our schemas. Not everyone reaches all the stages in understanding of race, ethnicity, and social class and not everyone has as developed a schema for gender as others. Perhaps as children relying on schemas makes sense but as we get older we need to think beyond our schemas or consider the schemas of others and how they differ from ours and modify ours.